The Politics of Reform in an Era of "Texas-style" Accountability: An Interview with Angela Valenzuela

Abstract

The Politics of Reform in an Era of Texas-style Accountability: An Interview with Angela Valenzuela Introduction Angela Valenzuela is an associate professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction and the Center for Mexican American Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Valenzuela is a mother of two children with research and teaching interests in the sociology of education, race and ethnicity in schools, urban education reform and educational policy. She is the author of Subtractive Schooling: U.S. Mexican Youth and the Politics of Caring, winner of both the 2000 American Educational Research Association Outstanding Book Award and the 2001 Critics' Choice Award from the American Educational Studies Association. She is also editor of a volume titled, Leaving Children Behind: How Texas-style Accountability Fails Latino Youth. Dr. Valenzuela also serves as Education Committee Chair for the Texas League of United Latin American Citizens, the nation's largest and oldest Latino civil rights organization. Nathalia Jaramillo is a third-year doctoral student in the division of Urban Schooling, UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies. She is also co-editor of InterActions: UCLA Journal of Education and Information Studies., The following interview emerged from a mutual interest in understanding the nature and politics of school reform in an era, as Angela Valenzuela so pointedly asserts, of Texas-style accountability. We were particularly interested in discussing the implications, underlying narratives and motifs of education policy at the state and federal level. In light of these concerns and their role in shaping— individually, socially and civically—the communities we serve, we felt it necessary to end our discussion on a more personal note, with Angela sharing her views and experiences on actively transforming the status of education. NJ: Angela, let's begin our discussion with your home state of Texas. Earlier in the year, troubling news reports made it into the national spotlight regarding an alleged test-cheating scandal in various major school districts, such as Dallas and Houston. These reports suggest that so-called high-achieving schools in poor communities of color are actually the result of institutionalized test-cheating methods. Are these allegations valid?